Giving up on photography or downgrading?

[Jcp2]

Alternatively you could hire a camera-Sherpa buddy to lug your rig around for you topside, then assist with spotting critters while you are photographing.

I think at that point one could hire a photographer, or better yet, buy the prints.

 

[Barmaglot]

Didn't really know where to post this but that's it... after 6 years of underwater photography, I do not enjoy it anymore

Latest rig is a Sony A6500 + seafrogs housing + 4*25cm arms + 6 clamps + 2*Z330 + 2 small lights for night dives (on top of the strobes). 8inch dome and 10-18 for wide, macro + 16-50 for macro (with +6 diopter). I love the photos I take but I am:
Tired of the logistics.
Tired of carrying all this weight (I have 1kg of lead weight on the dome to compensate for the air).
Tired of worrying about where to put the camera on the various dive boats (especially day trips boats, I live in Asia so I do a lot of these)
Tired of having to rinse everything
Tired of having to make sure everything is charged, 8 batteries for strobes + 1 for the camera for almost every dive, 3 dives a day, charging all of it at night is super annoying.
Tired of having to repack everything when I go on various dive trips (weekends or 1-2 week holidays) to make sure it fits nicely in my bags/nothing gets scratched/batteries don't catch fire etc.
Tired of carrying around that big rig underwater, making every task underwater a bit more tricky (deploying a line/SMB or switching tanks).

I don't know what to do. I like macro and wide. For wide a gopro will do (even though I was doing mostly photos, I can move to videos). For macro, not sure. Are there any decent macro wet lenses for gopro? I know the TG-6 is out there but it's 4 year old, it's not exactly small either.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? What did you "downgrade" to? How did it feel? Any regrets?

You can try something like this:

(Source)

This is an E-M10 III, but A6500 is similar in size. Drop the 10-18mm + 8" dome and get a wet lens (for example AOI UWL-09) for wide angle with 16-50mm + flat port.

There's no getting around rinsing stuff and charging batteries, regardless of what system you use.

As far as logistics go, I quite like my Cinebags Square Grouper for carrying the rig onto boats.

Regarding carrying the rig underwater, I have two bolt snaps on mine, which I clip onto BCD chest D-rings - this allows for hands-free carrying of the entire thing during water entry, exit, SMB launch, whatever. It's still a big lump on my front, but that can be worked around. Here's what it looks like pre-dive:

 

[Pyndle]

I think what I need is a TG-7. Same size, drastically improved image quality / sensor. But it's never going to happen

I was in exact the same position with the OP few months ago -

Thank you. Sad to see that the gopro setup doesn't really work for macro, this is exactly what I was going to go for but if focus doesn't work, there's no point really

Once getting used to an SLR or m4/3, it is not that easy to be happy with a point and shoot.

I agree. I upgraded to an A7IV for land photography, I will never go back to my A6500 for that use case! But on land, Full frame vs APS-C doesn't change anything for logistics, it's just a few extra kilos in the backpack.

Alternatively you could hire a camera-Sherpa buddy to lug your rig around for you topside, then assist with spotting critters while you are photographing.

Yeah nah I'm not that rich haha!

I don’t think this has been mentioned yet, but another potential solution is to use multipurpose clamps + mounting balls at the apex of your strobe arm connections. The two Nauticam parts needed are:

View attachment 717207
This allows for something very similar in function to a triple clamp, but without the floppy mess of adjustment problems inherent in that setup. The pin and screw on the strobe mounting ball allow it to have a rigid connection to the clamp. The screw replaces the shackle, and there is a smaller pin hole near that location.

I use this set up most of the time, with strobes on the end of the arms and video lights at the apexes (elbows?). I like it for 90% of my dives, and it also allows the video lights to function as focus lights when needed.

A big thank you to the guys at Reef Photo in Fort Lauderdale, who showed me how these MP clamps can work well for this application.

Lance

You can try something like this:
View attachment 786039
(Source)

This is an E-M10 III, but A6500 is similar in size. Drop the 10-18mm + 8" dome and get a wet lens (for example AOI UWL-09) for wide angle with 16-50mm + flat port.

There's no getting around rinsing stuff and charging batteries, regardless of what system you use.

As far as logistics go, I quite like my Cinebags Square Grouper for carrying the rig onto boats.

Regarding carrying the rig underwater, I have two bolt snaps on mine, which I clip onto BCD chest D-rings - this allows for hands-free carrying of the entire thing during water entry, exit, SMB launch, whatever. It's still a big lump on my front, but that can be worked around. Here's what it looks like pre-dive:

View attachment 786041

Wow, IDK how you do that it must be so sketchy to have this tied in front of you. Doesn't the camera go up in your face?
Yeah the setup you shared looks smaller, but ti's still a lot of gear. I'd save a few clamps, the dome (although replaced by a smaller one) and 2 arms, that's it. Still way too much + the cleaning etc.

 

[Nemrod]

Wow, IDK how you do that it must be so sketchy to have this tied in front of you. Doesn't the camera go up in your face?
Yeah the setup you shared looks smaller, but ti's still a lot of gear. I'd save a few clamps, the dome (although replaced by a smaller one) and 2 arms, that's it. Still way too much + the cleaning etc.

I do the same thing. There is nothing sketchy about it. The base tray/grip has a lanyard that is three or four inches long and that secures off to the crotch D-ring (scooter ring). The arms secure at the mid clamps with bolt snaps to my left and right shoulder D-rings in exactly the same fashion. The camera is very stable and fixed in position and cannot "go up in your face" at all. I do this for entry, exit or emergency where I need my hands free and the camera secure and not swinging about.

I feel your pain but not ready to give it up. Sony NA6400, dual strobes, not to bad, neutral in the water and perfectly balanced.

 

[Pyndle]

Perfectly balanced was a dream of mine, never managed to achieve it It's neutral, but that freaking seafrogs dome wants to go up so much so I need to apply a lot of force to keep the lens pointing in front of me and not towards the sky or the bottom.

I guess the problem is solved if I stop taking cameras haha

 

[wind forecaster]

Elizabeth and I have used big rigs as scientists for over 40 years. We loved the great imagery but have realized that the advances in computational imagery in smartphones in the last 2 years are perfect for the low contrast, low saturation, and dynamic range found underwater.

Some of these phone cameras can even recognize fish and take dozen of photos with one shutter press and then, in an instant, build a composite photo pixel by pixel to produce great shadow detail, reduce noise, apply selective saturation and selective sharpening.

We spent 30 days on Bonaire shore diving and testing one of the few smartphone housings that allows you full access to your touch screen. We looked at image quality, ease of complex shots and durability. Future videos will look at the Pros and Cons and use of such housing.

I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the image quality which shows through even in the low-resolution YouTube codecs.

Here is our video:
Mike and Elizabeth

 

[divad]

Didn't really know where to post this but that's it... after 6 years of underwater photography, I do not enjoy it anymore

Delete......and dive.

Latest rig is a Sony A6500 + seafrogs housing + 4*25cm arms + 6 clamps + 2*Z330 + 2 small lights for night dives (on top of the strobes). 8inch dome and 10-18 for wide, macro + 16-50 for macro (with +6 diopter). I love the photos I take but I am:
Tired of the logistics.
Tired of carrying all this weight (I have 1kg of lead weight on the dome to compensate for the air).
Tired of worrying about where to put the camera on the various dive boats (especially day trips boats, I live in Asia so I do a lot of these)
Tired of having to rinse everything
Tired of having to make sure everything is charged, 8 batteries for strobes + 1 for the camera for almost every dive, 3 dives a day, charging all of it at night is super annoying.
Tired of having to repack everything when I go on various dive trips (weekends or 1-2 week holidays) to make sure it fits nicely in my bags/nothing gets scratched/batteries don't catch fire etc.
Tired of carrying around that big rig underwater, making every task underwater a bit more tricky (deploying a line/SMB or switching tanks).

I don't know what to do. I like macro and wide. For wide a gopro will do (even though I was doing mostly photos, I can move to videos). For macro, not sure. Are there any decent macro wet lenses for gopro? I know the TG-6 is out there but it's 4 year old, it's not exactly small either.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? What did you "downgrade" to? How did it feel? Any regrets?

 

[Gene]

As a professional photog who's been shooting since I was a kid, (my dad was a photojournalist), I'm reading all this with interest. As some may recall, back in the film and darkroom days, little did we realize what was yet to come with digital photography. There were not a lot of photographers shooting underwater pre-digital, but that was all to change. From reading through this, it seems that maybe some are not into it as much as they used to be? Or at least carrying all the equipment, which I can understand. Since I make my living mostly with above water photography, there are many dives I go on sans camera. People sometimes ask where my camera is, and I say I'm taking a break from it, and/or just doing a fun, non-photo dive. But I almost always enjoy my photo dives too. So, I usually feel it's just me being a bit lazy not wanting to carry the camera gear, which for cave diving usually requires a number of strobes too.
While working regularly on a movie or TV show, I sometimes get burned out on all the editing that has to be done,

sometimes after being on set for 10 plus hours. But editing my underwater work is usually much quicker and easier as I'm not shooting hundreds of images.
I'm 60 now and don't dive as much as I used to, but I think I'll always be a photographer, even when retired, and will continue shooting for fun as long as I can hold my camera and push the shutter. I do plan on buying at least one more camera and underwater housing for a newer mirrorless Nikon.

www.pagephotography.smugmug.com
@genepagephotography

Photo by Daehag Kim

 

[wind forecaster]

Below is how we rinse our DiveVolk housing. We just toss it into a water-filled drybag then drop it into the regulator/BCD pile in the back of the pickup truck.

During the drive back to our accommodations, hot water sloshing around in the bag gets salt water out of all the nooks and crannies and nicely cushions the housing.

On this day, the housing was still playing Fleetwood Mac from our safety stop when I put it into the bag.

I like that in an emergency your phone, in the housing, can make a phone call, send a text or GPS coordinates and, if you have an iPhone 14, send a Satellite SOS while swimming around.

 

[Nemrod]

Perfectly balanced was a dream of mine, never managed to achieve it It's neutral, but that freaking seafrogs dome wants to go up so much so I need to apply a lot of force to keep the lens pointing in front of me and not towards the sky or the bottom.

I guess the problem is solved if I stop taking cameras haha

My Nauticam NA6400 is indeed perfectly balanced with the WWL-1, with the flat port and macro CMC2 and with the dome. With the WWL-1 it sinks slowly, with the macro it is neutral and with the dome it wants to float upward, in all cases the camera remains vertical. Maybe it is the difference between a Nauticam and a SeaFrog. Dunno. I may need to add a couple of ounces of lead for the dome configuration.